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Bridging the Gap between the Qualitative and Quantitative Worlds? A Retrospective and Prospective View on Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Benoît Rihoux

Centre de Politique Comparée (CPC) & COMPASSS, Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is both an approach and a technique launched in the late 1980s by Charles C. Ragin as a "middle road" between quantitative and qualitative strategies. This review article is an invitation to take a serious look at QCA while also attempting to correctly assess its potential and limits. First, the article presents QCA as an approach and as a specific technique (and software). Second, it offers a selective overview of QCA applications produced so far, along with an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses. The main critiques of QCA are discussed as well as some answers to these critiques. Finally, it presents the prospects of what constitutes a very promising tool in various disciplines.

Key Words: comparative methods • qualitative comparative analysis • QCA • qualitative methods • quantitative methods • Boolean analysis

Field Methods, Vol. 15, No. 4, 351-365 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1525822X03257690
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